Learning Methods

You will learn the relevant material in a number of different ways. The project is a group project, and you must learn to work effectively with the people around you: one of the best ways of learning is from and with your colleagues.

There is lots of material here on the web that has been specifically designed and targetted for your use. This provides a core set of information fro you to work from. The recommended book for the course, contains lots of material that is relevant to the course and useful to you as Computer Scientists - you should look to buy at least one copy per group. Many of the topics we cover require you to read about them in the book in order to have a proper understanding of the subject; it will not be enough to simply come along to the lectures or utilise this web-based material. Specific sections will be highlighted in the course schedule to assist your work.

Note that you are not expected to be able to reproduce all the material in the textbook - it is there for your education and you will not be directly examined on it. You are examined on how well you understand the issues presented and how well you can apply them to your particular project - that is why the course is continually assessed. You will not do well in the course unless you have read the appropriate subjects, however.

Whilst you can obtain the theory of HCI from the book, lectures and web materials, it is essential that you put it into use, hence the project-based nature of the work. You will be expected to develop an interface to a particular system, taking HCI throughout the software lifecycle, from the initial stages of user requirements analysis through prototyping, evaluating and redesigning until you reach a final product. It is these processes that form the basis for the assessment of the work; two milestones represent key stages along the way, where your work will be commented upon, assessed, and returned to you. The final system design will also be assessed. Deadlines are available.

Because much of the work will be available on the web, you are encouraged to browse other web pages, designs and ideas, to provide inspiration for your particular topic and to gain a wider understanding of the issues involved. Some web-based resourses can be found here.

You have also been provided with a newsgroup specifically targetted for the HCI course. This group should be used for discussions on any matter relating to HCI in general, the course in particular, or to ask and answer any questions you may have. Whilst the demonstrators and lecturers may read this newsgroup from time to time, it is primarily to allow you to communicate and assist each other. The newsgroup is called cs.courses.hci and can be accessed from within Netscape by using the Newsgroups option from the menu at the top, and then subscribing to the newsgroup by typing its name in the relevant place.

There is a news and information page onto which the lecturer and demonstrators will post messages, advice and information from time to time - you are advised to check this page each time you log on to do some HCI work.